So I've got some steady play money coming in and now the race ranger can finally get started. Truck is a 95 4x4 with a 2.3 and twin stick transfer case. Today my buddy and I picked up a craigslist find.
A 1987 Ford Thunderbird 5.0 motor with crank, pistons, rods, plugs, lifters, chain and gears and the guy even threw in a fox body oil pan and distributor for free. The spare tire "engine stand was free too. Only cost me $180 and a 3 hour trip
The plan is for a EFI rebuild on this motor plus a Tremec T-5 running to a Ford 9" rear with 4:56's.
The engine is in great shape internally and was just taken apart. Fresh oil still coats everything.

The pistons are going to change from flat top to new dual recess for valves.

The oil pan is a single sump but I am going to hunt down a dual sump for the ranger to clear the crossmember.

The engine did not include the heads but rebuilt ones are on the list.









The truck as she sits now.

 

Sounds like a good deal! That doesn't look like a fox body oil pan though, but it sounds like it would be what you want... a fox body pan is a dual sump style of pan. I've got a brand new one here but shipping would likely be expensive!

 

nice truck! should make for a sweet build, thats a good deal for a block.

ill be watchin!

 

Thanks guys. I'm starting the teardown tomorrow. It's still abnormally cold here in Delaware for this time of year but at least I have a garage to work in. Hopefully I can find the right socket for the camshaft sprocket and get the TDC markings lined up before I take out the pistons, crank, and cam for inspection/cleaning.
Plans for the block include cleaning with alcohol and scotch brite/brass brushes. If everything looks good inside then I'm going to look for a real stand and get her painted up FoMoCo Racing Blue :D

 

Alright guys. Got a little work done today. Girlfriend came over with subs while I was working so that was nice. She even helped with cleaning the block! We're supposed to have cold weather tomorrow and I'm busy for a few days but the engine should be on a stand and painted by the end of the week. I can't believe Sears didn't have a stand in stock. Oh well. Heres a few pics of progress.

Got everything stripped out.


Pistons/Rods/Camshaft is in great shape.


Dr. Pepper holder.


Getting there


My side (foreground) Girlfriend did the far side.


Got the crank out and cleaned it up


Good shot of the cam and crank housings


Like new crank!

 

be sure to replace all the lower end bearings while your in there. nothing worse then a spun bearing 5K into the swap. id do rings and start fresh too.

 

Well keeping in theme with this years late spring we had a bit of snowfall yesterday. So I decided to take my girl down to the canal for a little offroad trip. Afterwards i was able to get a line on some heads for the motor from a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII. Same year, fox platform, and motor. He wants $75 for the pair all parts included. He says they ran great when pulled from his daily driver so should be another steal if I get them.

Heres a shot I got from yesterday's impromptu blizzard.

 

sounds like a decent deal.

 

Hey guys. I made some serious progress the past couple of days. First off it was impossible to even move in my garage. That's now been taken care of after a couple trips to the landfill and scrap yard.
I picked up my heads today for $90. Turns out they are E7's with the valves still in them and springs/rocker arms. Still need to pick up the pushrods but that'll come soon enough.
I got as much clean today as I could and should get them to the machinist soon.

When I got them home.


Before I touched them.


Nicely caked.


After a little love.


Intake Before


After


All of them before.


After

 

Got a little work done today. Got a valve spring compressor and went to work. All of the valve are out of one head and I've cleaned everything I could on it. Now I'm testing my High Heat Primer and then Ford Racing Blue on it.

Getting valves out.


Cleaned up the spring seats and valve pipes.


Ports cleaned up nicely.


High Heat 2000 degree primer

 

This week was pretty fun. I know progress is slow but I'm back on it now. The last of the valves just came out and everything is ready for machining. I went today and got an estimate from ACA Speed Shop for Hot dipping the block and heads and honing the cylinders. I'm also going to have him remove the pistons from the rods for me.
Also my little play car got some time this weekend. :D

Valves on their way out.


Truck keeping an eye on me.


HOW DID THIS GET HERE!!!!!!!!!! EWWWWWWWW


My little German Mach 5


Charmander of course


She's got the butt.


SRT 8 Jeep, 928S, 944S (Both 1986)


Following a 911 Turbo


That's enough for today. I'll be sure to update after the honing!

 

Looks like loads of fun! Everything looks great, cant wait for the finished product!!

 

quit showing off lol

 

I dropped the block and heads off at ACA today to be hot dipped and decked. Also gave him my rods and pistons to be seperated. He said he's going to do some measurements on my cylinders to see how they look. They have a nice ridge on them but I took care of that myself on a few of them. Trying to not have to pay 3x the cost of the block just on machine work!

 

any luck finding a dual sump pan? only asking cause theres a few for sale locally, ones even brand new.

 

I've been looking but ever since I reviewed the V8 swap tech articles on therangerstation I think I may be in the clear with the one I have. They say to either use a dual or rear sump pan in gen 3 rangers with a 5.0. I believe mine is a rear pickup so I should be safe!
Of course it's going to take forever to get the nasty corrosion sanded down on this old pan.

I'll just have to remember not to put oil in it til I set the motor in the truck just in case haha.

 

Still waiting for a call from the machine shop to pick my engine and heads up. Got some more dirty work done today. Cleaned up the oil pan (took forever). Primed it for now. Should be picking up some high heat black this week and that'll be done.

 

Since I forgot to give the machinist my main caps my machine work is a bit behind schedule. He said it should be hot tanked on monday and then he's going to measure up my cylinder walls to see if they need honing. The heads and the block are getting decked too. I did however go hunt down some purple power for soaking all the little parts in. Really cleaned it up nicely. I am still upgrading the rocker arms and getting new springs/lifters but everything came out nice and is in decent shape.





I've decided to do a Delaware Flag color combo. Ford Racing Blue Block, intake, valve covers, spark wire separators, and distributor with Daytona Yellow oil pan, heads, spark plug wires, timing chain cover, and cold air intake.


Half of the valves and the rest of the small pieces after soaking in Purple Power.

 

Been a while since I've had an update. I picked up the block and heads today from ACA Performance. The pistons/rods are hanging out in their shop until the new pistons come in from summit.
Anyway here's the list of things i had them do.

Cook the block and heads.
Deck the block.
Install new freeze plugs and cam bearings.
Deglaze the cylinders (measured up like new after 26 years!)
Resurfaced the heads.

Snapped a few pics when I got back to my garage, getting it on my new jegs stand by myself took a little work/luck. It's on there solid with 4" Grade 5 7/16 bolts and rotates 360 degrees.

motorcycle jack and some ice-melt to eye it up.


on the stand with the heads.


threw the oil pan on for a laugh


nice 68 at ACA


Also I had some clatter coming from the rear for the past week so I took the diff cover off and found the problem. The cross shaft for the differential broke right after it's hold bolt and is riding the ring gear. Already got a new one from R&D and fresh gasket and fluid. I'll probably fix that on friday.

 

how on earth did you sheer that pin??

 

Good question! The pumpkin had plenty of fluid in it and no loose fragments of any kind in the bottom of it. I know I had a nice wheel hop in reverse a while ago but I still can't see it breaking that pin.

 

Damn Anthony! looks like you have been busy! Its funny guys I work with report sightings of you! haha! couple of guys I work with at the Base always ask me "hey have you seen the red and white wide body ranger".

 

just did swap engine run good when at idle and when down in it but normal speed backfires thru intake any ideas

 

That's awesome man! I guess I need to stop being surprised when people sway they know my truck. Not exactly incognito am I? Haha. We'll have to do a meet sometime.

And now for an update!
The UPS man brought some presents today.
Oil pan pickup/driveshaft/bolts/pan bolts/magnetic pan plug.
Full gasket set. And 1 piece Ford Racing oil pan gasket.
Speed-Pro Hypereutectic pistons and ring set.
Timing chain and gear set.
Trick Flow head bolt kit.
Rod and Main bearings.
4.000" aluminum piston compressor ring.
9'x3' Summit Racing Equipment banner.

I also ran over to pep boys and grabbed the rest of my essentials.
Caulk gun style bottle of RTV Ultra Black.
Assembly lube/moly paste.
1qt standard 10w-30 for piston install.
Brake parts cleaner.
Blue Threadlocker.

The rest of my shipment will arrive tomorrow.
Oil pump.
Timing cover and bolt kit.

I took the pistons over to ACA Performance to be installed on my rods. I told the owner I couldn't find a ring expander yet and he offered to install the rings for FREE!









And a little truck ****.

 

Im now at the final stage of pre-assembly. Everything I need is in the garage. Now I'm just waiting to pick up the pistons and rods at the speed shop and get cracking on this thing.

My biggest worry has also been taken care of as well. The pan that came with my motor was identified by the previous owner as some old fox body pan. After a few people on different forums kept saying otherwise I looked it up and it turned out to be from a bronco 90-96 model. The main issue I had was that summit racing had several different oil pan pickup screens for that truck and several pan styles. I was unable to find a picture or anything to guide me to the correct screen so I ordered the one that I thought best matched in their brief description.
Turns out it is in fact the right pickup. It has a very sharp angle to it and that is what worried me.

Today I hung up my new banner, primed the motor and painted the timing cover, tested the oil pan for clearance and checked a few other parts I had ordered for fitment.

Oil system mocked up. I moved the hold down bolt for the pickup to where it belongs after this shot.


Perfect fit.


Banner's up


Primer